Four Mainstream System Cases from AeroCool, Enermax, NZXT and Scythe. Page 7

Today we are going to talk about four system cases of the most popular type: mainstream price range. We will talk not only about solutions with classical design that stood the test of time, but also about a few truly unique products. Among our testing participants are AeroCool Syclone, Enermax Phoenix Neo, NZXT Beta EVO and Scythe Fenris Wolf.

The interior of this system case is rather ascetic. The HDD rack resembles Hiper products but the chassis is different. Hiper used 2mm aluminum everywhere whereas in this system case the main carcass is 2 millimeters thick and the side panels are made from 1-millimeter aluminum sheets. So, the case does seem flimsy a little, yet its overall rigidity is acceptable. I heard no foreign sounds when I assembled my test configuration in it.

Like in Hiper’s system cases, most of the elements, including the reusable expansion-slot brackets are fastened with thumbscrews. The fans are a real treat for my eyes. These are two Scythe SlipStream at 800 RPM. I don’t think anyone would want to replace these quiet but effective fans with anything else.

The single-piece drives rack can be roughly divided into three sections each of which is three 5.25-inch bays large. Each bay has vibration-absorbing pads but the pads are flush with the panels, so their efficiency is questionable.

There is a guide in one of the bays for installing an external 3.5-inch device.

The bottom 3-bay section has a cover to which a fan is attached. Like in the rest of the case, there is no protection against dust, but nothing prevents you from providing it yourself.

HDDs are installed in a highly unusual manner in this system case. The disks are squeezed between and fastened with screws to two 2mm aluminum plates that have vibration-absorbing strips on the interior side. Before doing that, you should also attach three rubber cylinders with pressed-in threaded metallic nuts to those plates. It is by means of these vibration-absorbing cylinders that the whole arrangement is secured within the chassis.

This sandwich does not transfer any vibration from the HDDs to the case and is itself rigid and massive if you’ve got at least two HDDs. The downsides of this solution are obvious, too. It is not quite easy to attach the sandwich to the bottom block of 5.25-inch bays. It is also quite a bother to replace one HDD in it. So, this solution will only be really good for people who don’t often replace their HDDs.

Except for the HDD installation, there is nothing special in the assembly process. The case is large enough to accommodate graphics cards up to 290 millimeters long. The cables won’t take too much space, either. The case allows installing CPU coolers up to 170 millimeters tall.